Andy Murray will play at one of England’s most prestigious golf tournaments next year alongside one of the sport’s big names. The two-time Wimbledon champion has been spending plenty of time on the course following his retirement from tennis. He is no longer involved in his former sport, having briefly coached Novak Djokovic before stepping back from the scene.
Golf has emerged as Murray’s new passion and he has already played at a handful of celebrity tournaments. His next challenge will be his biggest yet, though, with the 38-year-old set to compete in the exclusive Sunningdale Foursomes at one of the UK’s best courses. He will team up with DP World Tour winner Eddie Pepperell, who revealed the news during an appearance on The Chipping Forecast.
“I thought I’ve got this nice idea,” said Pepperell. “I’m going to text him now that I’ve got his number and ask him if he wants to play the Sunningdale Foursomes with me.
“And he responded: ‘100 per cent, that would be brilliant’. So I entered us, put a little bio in – ‘multiple Grand Slam major tennis champion, DP World Tour player’ – and hopefully we [will] be accepted.
Murray has a stated aim of becoming a scratch golfer and is not a million miles away from achieving that goal, according to Pepperell.
“In fact, his handicap just met the criteria by chance, and this is genuine, 1.4,” he added. “So he’s just eligible by handicap, and me too. We shall hopefully give it a go, and I think it would be a really fun thing to do.”
It comes after Murray revealed his desire to become a professional golf caddy, explaining that it would be his ‘dream job’ to work with Robert MacIntyre.
“I’m considering becoming a golf caddy, hopefully for a professional golfer at some stage,” he said. “I love golf and if you love that sport, it would be a great job.
“If you are working with a top golfer and being there when they have a great moment on the course and feeling like you can help a little bit with decisions and things like that, I think it would be a brilliant job.”
Quizzed on the possibility of being MacIntyre’s caddy, he said: “That’s like the dream. Imagine carrying Robert MacIntyre’s bag when he won The Open. That’s like the dream job.”
When it was put to Murray that his presence might take the limelight away from the player he is working for, he replied: “Initially maybe people would get quite excited about that, but after a while it just becomes the norm.”